Colts Place Charvarius Ward On IR, Announce Philip Rivers Signing
The Colts have placed cornerback Charvarius Ward on IR for the second time this season and announced the signing of quarterback Philip Rivers to their practice squad. The team also signed quarterback Brett Rypien and kicker Blake Grupe from its practice squad to its 53-man roster.
With four games remaining, Ward’s regular season is over as a result of his third concussion of 2025. He may have a chance to return if the Colts qualify for the playoffs, but the club is on the outside of the bracket heading into Week 15. Once 7-1, the Colts have fallen to 8-5.
Ward, a former Chief and 49er, joined the Colts on a three-year deal worth up to $60MM last March. The move has paid off when Ward has been healthy enough to play. The 29-year-old has totaled 25 tackles and seven passes defensed in seven games (all starts), and Pro Football Focus ranks him as the sixth-best cornerback of 2025.
Ward’s latest concussion means the Colts will have to go without their top two cornerbacks for at least some portion of their four-game closing stretch. The team took an enormous gamble at the Nov. 4 trade deadline in sending two first-round picks and wide receiver Adonai Mitchell to the Jets for star corner Sauce Gardner.
Quarterback Daniel Jones was healthy and enjoying a career season around the deadline, leading general manager Chris Ballard to take a home run swing for Gardner. Things have not gone according to plan since then. Jones is now done for the season after tearing his Achilles in a loss to the Jaguars last Sunday. The 44-year-old Rivers, who retired after 2020, may replace Jones down the stretch in a last-ditch effort to save the Colts’ season.
Before Jones went down for the year, Gardner strained his calf in his third game as a Colt, a Week 13 loss to the Texans. Gardner missed Week 14, and he’s likely to sit out again this Sunday in Seattle, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com. At the earliest, Gardner could return Week 16 against the 49ers.
With Ward out of commission and the Colts waiting for Gardner to come back, they’re down to Kenny Moore, Jaylon Jones, Mekhi Blackmon, Johnathan Edwards, and Cameron Mitchell at corner. It’s a harsh development ahead of a meeting with the 10-3 Seahawks, who boast the NFL’s ninth-ranked passing attack. Jaxon Smith-Njigba, easily the league leader in receiving yards, won’t have to contend with Ward or Gardner.
Turning back to the offensive side, Rypien could at least serve as a backup option this week. Sixth-round rookie Riley Leonard is dealing with a PCL sprain that could force him to miss the game. Assuming the Colts elevate Rivers from their practice squad, Leonard’s absence would leave him and Rypien as the team’s choices under center. The 29-year-old Rypien, who joined the Colts’ taxi squad in mid-October, has combined for 17 appearances and six starts with the Broncos, Rams, and Bengals.
Grupe, a Dec. 2 practice squad pickup, has taken over at kicker since the Colts cut Michael Badgley after Week 13. Despite sloppy conditions in Jacksonville, Grupe hit both of his field goal attempts and converted his lone extra point last Sunday. Grupe, who began 2025 with the Saints, has gone 20 of 28 on field goals and 16 for 16 on PATs in 12 games this year.
Colts Activate LB Jaylon Carlies From IR; K Blake Grupe Elevated
The Colts announced that they have activated linebacker Jaylon Carlies from injured reserve. He’ll make his season debut on Sunday against the AFC South rival Jaguars with first place in the division on the line.
[RELATED: Will The Colts Win The AFC South?]
Carlies, a fifth-round pick in 2024, has had trouble staying healthy during his young NFL career. The former Missouri safety missed seven games with a leg injury as a rookie, and he hasn’t played at all this season as a result of an ankle issue. The Colts gave Carlies a return designation when they placed him on IR on Aug. 26.
Carlies started in six of 10 appearances and made 36 tackles last year. After the departure of E.J. Speed to the division rival Texans in free agency, the Colts expected Carlies to start alongside Zaire Franklin this season. Carlies’ injury scuttled those plans, though, and a lack of in-house solutions led the Colts to sign Germaine Pratt on Oct. 8.
Pratt has served as a full-time starter over seven games with the Colts. Carlies figures to work in a reserve role as a result.
In other Saturday moves, the Colts elevated kicker Blake Grupe and defensive tackle Chris Wormley from their practice squad to their active roster.
Grupe, previously with the Saints, signed with the Colts earlier this week. He’s replacing Michael Badgley, whom the Colts cut after he missed an extra point in a loss to the Texans in Week 13. Badgley joined the team after Spencer Shrader suffered a season-ending torn ACL and MCL in Week 5. With Grupe replacing Badgley, the Colts are poised to use three kickers in a season for the first time in franchise history.
This is the second standard gameday elevation of the year for Wormley, who joined the Colts’ practice squad on Nov. 18. In his Colts debut, the 32-year-old played 19 defensive snaps and recorded a sack against Houston.
Colts Add K Blake Grupe To Practice Squad
3:33pm: The Colts are signing Grupe to their practice squad, according to Mike Garafolo of NFL.com.
10:27am: Michael Badgley missed an extra point for the third time this season on Sunday. In response, the Colts are looking into potential kicking replacements. 
When asked about the possibility of moving on from Badgley yesterday, head coach Shane Steichen did not specify what the team’s plan was. He instead deferred to general manager Chris Ballard (h/t ESPN’s Stephen Holder). Holder predicted on Monday that the Colts would look into alternatives, and that has proven to be the case.
Kicker workouts are taking place today in Indianapolis. Joel A. Erickson of the Indy Star reports Blake Grupe is among those who are auditioning. This comes shortly after Grupe was cut by the Saints during his third season with the team. Grupe was relatively consistent for his first two Saints campaigns, but in 2025 he has connected on just 18 of 26 field goal attempts. It thus came as little surprise when the Saints moved on.
It would be interesting if the Colts elected to sign Grupe given his struggles this season. Badgley has endured an unwanted run of inconsistency on extra points in 2025, but in seven games he has gone 10-for-11 on field goal tries. At a minimum, Indianapolis is looking into the possibility of using another new kicker to close out the campaign.
Spencer Shrader was available for the first five games of the season, but ACL and MCL tears suffered in October brought his campaign to an abrupt end. The Colts turned to a familiar face in the form of Badgley as his replacement. A veteran of five NFL teams, Badgley kicked for Indianapolis in 2021. His current stint with the team could be in jeopardy, though, depending on how the next few days play out.
After starting 7-1, the Colts have lost three of their last four games. They are no longer the lock to top the AFC South they once appeared to be, and improvement on offense down the stretch will be key. Efforts on that front could include a new kicker being added in the near future.
Saints To Swap Kickers By Signing Cade York, Waiving K Blake Grupe
The Saints are making a change at kicker. Cade York is set to join the practice squad in New Orleans, per NewOrleans.Football’s Nick Underhill, and Blake Grupe will be waived from the active roster as a result, according to NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo.
York won the Saints’ kicking job with a successful tryout on Tuesday morning, beating out disgraced former Raven Justin Tucker.
Grupe has had a tough season, his third in the NFL. He made just 10 of his 15 field goal attempts in the first five games of the year with one miss inside of 40 yards and two more inside of 50 yards. He bounced back in his next four games, missing only a 53-yarder and converting all three of his other tries.
However, Grupe regressed in Week 12 against the Falcons, missing from 38 and 47 yards to drop his conversion rate to 69.2% on the year, a significant drop from the 81.1% and 87.1% marks of his first two seasons. The Saints’ coaching staff decided they had seen enough and opted to make a change.
York, a 2022 fourth-round pick by the Browns, made 75% of his kicks as a rookie with five misses inside of 50 yards. The Browns released him during final roster cuts in 2023; he bounced around with a few teams but did not make any appearances that year. York eventually found his way back to Cleveland during the 2024 offseason but again failed to win the starting kicker job. He was traded to the Commanders to kick in Week 1, but missed both of his field goals and was released shortly after.
York was later picked up by the Bengals for five games, during which time he made nine of his 11 field goals and 13 of his 15 extra point attempts. Despite the bounce-back showing in Cincinnati, York did not receive any interest this offseason, but he will get a chance in New Orleans and could lock down the job for the rest of the year with a strong debut in Week 13.
Saints Not Planning To Replace K Blake Grupe
With rookie kicker Blake Grupe continuing to struggle, some pundits have wondered if the Saints could make a change at the position. However, coach Dennis Allen gave his kicker a vote of confidence this week.
Per Josh Alper of ProFootballTalk.com, Allen explained to reporters that he’s seen plenty of rookie kickers struggle before ultimately figuring it out. The coach also noted that the Saints haven’t auditioned potential replacements.
Of course, the Saints aren’t necessarily willing to tolerate Grupe’s growing pains for the rest of the 2023 campaign. While the team is giving the rookie time to break out of his slump, they’re also not going to give the player endless opportunities to do so.
“This is a grown man’s league,” Allen said. “We’re not worried about anybody’s feelings right now. Blake’s got a job to do, he’s got to kick it through the posts, and he understands that. It’s the whole operation. There’s a lot of things that go into it. . . . We’ve got confidence in Blake, but yet you have to evaluate those things. You have to pay attention to it.”
Grupe got off to a hot start, connecting on 11 of his first 12 field goal attempts in the NFL. However, he’s taken a step back over the past month, converting only seven of his 11 attempts over his last four games. Only two of those four misses came from beyond the 50 yard line.
Of course, there’s plenty of reason to stick with the rookie. He clearly doesn’t have the yips, as Grupe has connected on all 19 of his extra point tries. Further, despite going undrafted in this year’s draft, he had a productive college career, connecting on 78 field goals across five seasons with Arkansas State and Notre Dame. The rookie won a kicking competition during the preseason over veteran Wil Lutz, who spent the previous seven seasons as New Orleans’ kicker.
Saints Announce 11-Man UDFA Class
The Saints have announced an 11-man UDFA class after drafting seven players over the course of the last three days. Here are the undrafted talents who will begin their pursuit of an NFL job with New Orleans:
- LB Nick Anderson, Tulane
- WR Sy Barnett, Davenport
- WR Shaq Davis, South Carolina State
- OL Mark Evans II, Arkansas-Pine Bluff
- K Blake Grupe, Notre Dame
- P Lou Hedley, Miami (FL)
- DB Anthony Johnson, Virginia
- LB Anfernee Orji, Vanderbilt
- OL Alex Pihlstrom, Illinois
- RB SaRodorick Thompson Jr., Texas Tech
- TE Joel Wilson, Central Michigan
Two of the above players, Davis and Orji, received guarantees in excess of $200K, as Greg Auman of FOX Sports tweets.
Davis has the size (6-5, 217 lbs.) and length that could allow him to find success in the pros, and he showed off serious big-play ability at the collegiate level, averaging roughly 20.4 yards per catch over four years at South Carolina State. That included 45 catches for 934 yards and 11 TDs in 2022.
That production, however, came against FCS competition. While the size of Davis’ guarantee indicates he was a priority signing, there are elements of his game — like his issue with drops — that he will need to clean up in order to have a shot at cracking the roster.
Orji, meanwhile, was a three-year starter for the SEC’s Commodores, as well as a team captain. Despite averaging nearly 100 total tackles and 10 tackles for loss over the past two seasons, he also missed a lot of tackles and does not have the speed that would make him an elite defender in today’s NFL. Still, there was a chance that he would hear his name called on Day 3 of the draft, and he should have a decent chance of sticking as a backup defender or special teamer.